I've had this post sitting in draft for ages but seeing this offer pop up on Twitter prompted me to finish it.

While most of my life is in MindManager I sometimes use JCVGantt to edit and present my maps. I've never liked the linear view of a project Gantts present but JCVGantt allows me to edit the same information as a Map or Gantt. Project Managers seem to love Gantt charts so it allows me to deliver the information in a format they are familiar with while creating/updating it in the map format I prefer. It also allows all the formatting, attachments, notes, links etc MindManager does so well to flow into your Gantt Chart which the export options don't always support.

For modest projects JCVGantt Pro is also great alternative to Microsoft Project. It's not as complex, but has the tools most people need and is much easier to use. The initial "what you must know to get going" intro for JCVGantt Pro takes five minutes, the recommended "full intro" takes twenty and is a good overview. I spent a day learning Project and achieved less.

The big advantage over exporting from MindManager to Project MPX (then into Project) is JCVGantt Pro can actually edit the map file. Changes in the map are reflected in the Gantt, changing the Gantt alters the map. To do this you open the map in MindManager, then launch JCVGantt Pro from the Ribbon Tab. In MindManager you select topic/branches to "connect" to JCVGantt Pro which allows one map to have a mix of "Gantt'ed" and plain topics. You can connect a branch with project tasks, but leave a meeting notes branch in the same map unconnected. This "connection status" can be changed at any stage.

This mode is so "integrated" there is no Save in the JCVGantt Pro Application Button as you save the file with MindManager (below left). If you use JCVGantt Pro stand-alone, also possible, the Application Button shows the usual file operations (below right). Both modes offer a range of import/export options to deal with other file formats.

The Excel export creates multiple sheets, or single, emulating the tabular sheets in JCVGantt Pro. Export to MS Project is possible if you have it installed on your machine, or use the MPX export in MindManager which doesn't require MS Project.

The HTML Export is pretty basic, effectively an image in a web page container, which is a pity. I'd hoped for an interactive page like the dynamic exports from MindManager.

With MindManager & JCVGantt Pro both open updates are effectively instant and you can edit in the interface which suits the information being added. One aspect I do find easier in JCVGantt is visualising task dependencies, follow/start/finish, and allocating resources. This is possible in MindManager but I prefer the JCVGantt UI. It also allows costing, task duration related and fixed costs, which MindManager does not accommodate. The Project, Cost and Resource tab views are shown below.

My "Project Dashboard" map, not my demo map seen in this post, is a 4mb file with about 1,000 topics (of 2,034 in the map) processed by JCVGantt. This seems to be about the limit for workable performance as sometimes I've seen screen drawing problems. Some parts of the task pane stop refreshing . This doesn't result in data loss, and is sorted by an application restart but is my only reservation for very large project use. I'm running these applications on a good mobile workstation with XP Pro and suspect it's a graphics/resource limitation, those with more modern O/S might fare better.

While I spend most of my time in MindManager the ability to take that information into JCVGantt Pro when needed is very handy. Perhaps the best advertisement is when I installed JCVGantt Pro at work I removed MS Project, and haven't missed it.

Saturday, 18 October 2008

I've posted about MindManager & JCVGantt before and had intentions of a post showing how to use it. The combination allows creation of an integrated project plan which can be edited/presented as a MindManager Map, Outline or Gantt chart. I won't be doing that post now as can simply link to Andrew Wilcox's awesome post & related website which covers this. Just goes to show that procrastination sometimes pays off!

Thursday, 22 May 2008

I depend on MindManager to aggregate and manage project information from many sources into a “dashboard”. It’s also a great planning tool providing rich, but simple to edit, task, process and resource information. For me a project, of any type, generally starts with a MindManager Map.

The downside is, for most people, in our business one expected project plan deliverable is a Gantt Chart. I actually despise the mythical linear view of projects promoted by Gantt Charts. It’s so far from the “churn” of my project reality as to be nearly useless as a reference. That’s why I prefer maps with their relational, hierarchical, but not linear presentation. Before today I’ve used the “Export to MPX/Project” feature in MindManager to satisfy the demand for a Gantt Views. Sometimes I tweak the results but the downside is it’s an export so any changes in Project do not update the source map.

One add-on I’ve tested, and seriously considered buying, in the past is JCVGantt. It was, yes was, a 3rd party application which offered powerful project planning tools – including Gantt Charts, Resource Allocation and Costing – with a bi-directional link to MindManager. The only reason I didn’t get it was cost and I had little need to maintain, as opposed to create, this sort of project planning.

That has changed so I was pleasantly surprised, actually shocked, to see an announcement that "Mindjet have acquired JCVGantt" appear in my feed-reader today. JCVGantt was always a seriously good product and there are currently some great add-on, bundle and upgrade deals on offer from Mindjet. If you want to try it first, like MindManager, there is a free trial but I won’t need it. They just sold a copy to me…

Above is my first attempt after installing JCVGantt. I’d seen the web demo and read the first 2 pages of the “5 Minute Quick Start”, which showed how to sync a branch in MindManager to JCVGantt, then just leapt in. Whether you edit the Map or JCVGantt/Project views changes are sync’ed to the other application. Adding task info, dependencies, resources, costs in JCVGantt views would be familiar to anyone using “that other Project software”. In fact I think it’s easier and more powerful for the average user. Then you have the added delight of having all that data in a Map view which can be edited knowing the “Project” is being updated as you do it.

I’ve still got a lot to learn in JCVGantt but so far I’m impressed. Who knows, I might even get to like Gantt charts…

Create charts in minutes with drag-and-drop GanttParts™, designed to let you think through a project schedule once, and then use it again.

Easily assign the same resources to multiple projects.

Full ink support enables hand-written projects on Tablet PCs

Instantly synchronizes data in both the JCVGantt and MindManager for increased productivity throughout the full project life cycle from business analysis, gathering requirements, planning and execution